SPACEX JUST LAUNCHED 2 ASTRONAUTS INTO ORBIT. WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE NASA CREW? - On May 30 two NASA astronauts made history when they launched aboard a SpaceX capsule, becoming the first astronauts to launch to orbit from the U.S. in nearly a decade. But what's next for the crew?Read article

SATELLITE NEWS

DID A HAM RADIO ENTHUSIAST ACTUALLY SPEAK TO CREW DRAGON? - In a strange turn of events, a ham radio enthusiast in Gujarat, India falsely claimed to have made contact with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley during their historic journey to the International Space Station last weekend. Engineer Adhir Saiyadh told the Ahmedabad Mirror he decided to try to connect with the ISS as it sped over India and "coincidentally got connected to their frequency and received a response from one of the commandants of the capsule," he said. But NASA says it simply isn't true. More(Source: Popular Mechanics - Jun 7)

CHINA WILL BEGIN CONSTRUCTING ITS SPACE STATION IN 2021 - The Chinese space agency is building a brand new space station, and they’re going about it in a suitably impressive way: an ambitious schedule of 11 planned launches crammed into only two years. When it’s done, the 66-ton space station will host crews of three astronauts for up to six months at a time, lasting for a planned 10 years before de-orbiting.
More(Source: Universe Today - Jun 7)

WASHINGTON'S NEW BLACK LIVES MATTER STREET MURAL IS CAPTURED IN SATELLITE IMAGE - Washington's new BLACK LIVES MATTER street mural is so huge, you can see it from space. New satellite images from Planet Labs clearly show the bright yellow message amid the gray Lego-looking buildings on the street leading to the White House, its grandeur minimized by the distance. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser commissioned the mural, which spans two blocks of 16th Street, as protests across the nation and the globe continue against police brutality after the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. More(Source: CNN - Jun 7)

CHINA LAUNCHES 2 ROCKETS IN 2 DAYS, LOFTING 4 SATELLITES TO ORBIT - SpaceX's first astronaut launch wasn't the only spaceflight action last weekend. While NASA and SpaceX were busy supporting the historic Demo-2 mission from Florida last weekend — the first crewed orbital flight from the U.S. in nearly a decade — the Chinese were making space strides of their own. China once again picked up the pace of its launches with two successful rocket flights back to back, around the same time that Demo-2 blasted off toward the International Space Station on May 30. More(Source: Space.com - Jun 7)

ASTRONOMERS WARN ABOUT EFFECTS OF OTHER SATELLITE MEGACONSTELLATIONS - Astronomers who have spent the last year worried about the effect that SpaceX’s Starlink satellites will have on their observations say they are increasingly concerned about the impact from other proposed megaconstellations.
Astronomers became alarmed about the effect the Starlink satellites would have after the launch of the initial set of 60 spacecraft in May 2019. More(Source: SpaceNews - Jun 5)

ASTRONAUTS 'CAPTURE THE FLAG' FOR SPACEX IN RACE TO REACH SPACE STATION - "Congratulations SpaceX, you got the flag."
Just one day after riding SpaceX's Crew Dragon "Endeavour" to a historic docking with the International Space Station, spacecraft commander Doug Hurley held out a small American flag for the company behind his and fellow NASA astronaut Bob Behnken's arrival at the orbiting complex. More(Source: Space.com - Jun 5)

EARTH FROM SPACE: 'OVERVIEW EFFECT' COULD HELP TROUBLED COUNTRY, ASTROPHYSICIST NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON SAYS - Neil deGrasse Tyson thinks we could all use a strong dose of the overview effect right now.
"Amid the turbulence of a pandemic & racedemic, I offer this reflection on what Earth looks like from space, as only an Apollo astronaut can tell it," the astrophysicist and science communicator, who directs the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, said via Twitter on Saturday (May 30). More(Source: Space.com - Jun 4)

SPACEX LAUNCHES 60 STARLINK SATELLITES AND LANDS ROCKET IN DAZZLING NIGHTTIME LIFTOFF - SpaceX successfully launched a new batch of 60 Starlink internet satellites into orbit late Wednesday (June 3) and nailed a rocket landing at sea to top off the mission.
The launch is the second in five days for the California-based rocket builder. On Saturday (May 30), a different Falcon 9 rocket sent NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley toward the International Space Station aboard a Crew Dragon capsule, kicking of SpaceX's landmark Demo-2 mission. The duo docked with the orbiting lab about 19 hours later and will remain there from one to four months. More(Source: Space.com - Jun 4)

CHINA OUTLINES AMBITIOUS PLAN TO BUILD SPACE STATION IN ORBIT - China has an ambitious new plan to build a space station in orbit by 2023. Why it matters: The U.S. sees China as a rival in space, so any large undertaking like this one will be watched closely. The space station also represents the evolution of China's space program, which made use of two smaller test stations in orbit that hosted crew before moving on to this more complex design. More(Source: Axios - Jun 3)

TWO CHINESE LAUNCHES DEPLOY SATELLITES FOR EARTH-IMAGING, TECH DEMONSTRATIONS - Two launches of Chinese rockets Friday and Sunday successfully placed Earth-imaging and technology demonstration satellites into orbit. The two missions, which took off from different spaceports, flew board Long March 11 and Long March 2D rockets.
A four-stage Long March 11 launcher fired out of a mobile canister at 2013 GMT (4:13 p.m. EDT) Friday and lit its solid-fueled first stage to soar into space from the Xichang launch base in southwestern China’s Sichuan province. More(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 2)

SPACEX TARGETS WEDNESDAY NIGHT FOR NEXT STARLINK LAUNCH - Days after launching astronauts for the first time, SpaceX is set to resume a speedy cadence of satellite launches Wednesday night with liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s next batch of Starlink broadband relay stations.
A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled for takeoff Wednesday, likely around 9:25 p.m. EDT (0125 GMT Thursday), from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad. More(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 2)

MAKING HISTORY, ASTRONAUTS RIDE COMMERCIAL CAPSULE TO SPACE STATION - A Crew Dragon spaceship built and owned by SpaceX glided to an automated docking with the International Space Station Sunday, delivering NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the orbiting research complex after a trouble-free 19-hour flight from the Kennedy Space Center.
The gumdrop-shaped capsule, named Endeavour by Hurley and Behnken in honor of NASA’s retired space shuttle, linked up with a docking adapter on the space station’s Harmony module at 10:16 a.m. EDT (1416 GMT) Sunday. More(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 1)

LONG MARCH 2D LOFTS GAOFEN-9 - A Long March 2D launched the Gaofen-9 (02) remote sensing satellite on Sunday, as China begins to ramp up its 2020 launch schedule. The launch took place at 8:53 UTC from the LC43/94 launch complex at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Inner Mongolia. The HEAD-4 satellite rode to orbit as a co-passenger. More(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jun 1)

SPACEX'S 1ST CREW DRAGON WITH ASTRONAUTS DOCKS AT SPACE STATION IN HISTORIC RENDEZVOUS - SpaceX's first Crew Dragon spaceship to carry astronauts slid into a dock at the International Space Station Sunday (May 31), concluding a historic 19-hour voyage to for its veteran NASA crew.
The arrival marked a major feat: the first docking of a crewed U.S. spacecraft at the station since NASA's shuttle fleet retired in 2011. It's also the first docking of a commercial spacecraft carrying humans, in this case astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley. More(Source: Space.com - May 31)

LONG MARCH 11 LAUNCHES OUT OF XICHANG FOR THE FIRST TIME - China has conducted the first launch of its solid-fuelled quick-reaction Long March-11 launch vehicle from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on Thursday. Carrying two new technology test satellites, Xinjishu Shiyan-G and Xinjishu Shiyan-H, the launch took place at 20:13 UTC.
The new technology test satellites were developed by the Shanghai Institute of Microsatellite Innovation, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Xinjishu Shiyan-G), and the National University of Defence Technology (Xinjishu Shiyan-H). More(Source: NASASpaceflight.com - May 31)

SPACEX'S 1ST CREW DRAGON WITH ASTRONAUTS TO DOCK AT SPACE STATION TODAY. HERE'S HOW TO WATCH. - After a historic launch yesterday (May 30) from the coast of Florida, two NASA astronauts arrive today at the space station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon.
Yesterday, veteran astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley became the first NASA astronauts to head to the International Space Station from Florida since 2011, when the space shuttles retired. Behnken and Hurley launched on a test mission dubbed Demo-2 of the Crew Dragon capsule built by SpaceX. More(Source: Space.com - May 31)

LIFTOFF! SPACEX LAUNCHES 1ST ASTRONAUTS FOR NASA ON HISTORIC TEST FLIGHT - SpaceX launched astronauts for the first time ever today, making history and opening a new age of commercial spaceflight.
A shiny white Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from historic Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center here today (May 30) at 3:22 p.m. EDT (1922 GMT), carrying SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule into orbit. The launch kicked off SpaceX's landmark Demo-2 mission, which is sending NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station (ISS). More(Source: Space.com - May 30)

WATCH LIVE: SPACEX AND NASA TO LAUNCH 2 ASTRONAUTS TO SPACE STATION ON SATURDAY - SpaceX and NASA are about to make history, sending astronauts from U.S. soil to the International Space Station. It’s the first crewed mission launched from the U.S. since the Space Shuttle program ended in 2011. And you can watch history in the making here. After bad weather caused a launch delay on May 27, the astronauts are preparing to try again at 3:22 p.m. EDT on Saturday, May 30, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. More(Source: Livescience.com - May 30)

BANKRUPT ONEWEB FILES WITH FCC TO PUT 48,000 BROADBAND SATELLITES IN ORBIT - Even though the OneWeb satellite venture is going through bankruptcy and a potential sale, it filed an application overnight with the Federal Communications Commission to expand its planned broadband internet constellation to as many as 48,000 satellites. OneWeb has launched 74 satellites into low Earth orbit so far, and has FCC authorization for a total of 720. More(Source: GeekWire - May 29)

NASA CHIEF WANTS TO INSPIRE THE NEXT GENERATION WITH TOM CRUISE'S FILM ON SPACE STATION - NASA Administrator James Bridenstine says the space agency hopes to inspire the next generation with Tom Cruise's upcoming movie, which will be the first Hollywood project to be shot aboard the International Space Station.
Cruise and technocrat Elon Musk's aviation company Space X are collaborating with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for filming the ambitious narrative movie aboard a real SpaceX vessel.
More(Source: Economic Times - May 29)